Flying home....

Two years ago tonight, Jasmine and I were flying home from Vietnam. She became an American citizen after going thru Immigration at LAX. She mostly slept the entire way home and woke up in her new home. Her first full day home was actually Thanksgiving Day! Here is Jasmine with her biological grandfather saying goodbye at the orphanage.

Today at school, Jasmine's class made "trail mix" for Thanksgiving. She ate the entire bag by herself... then put little chocolate chips in her ears. When I picked her up, she had brown chocolate goo dripping from both ears down the side of her face!! We went directly into the shower upon arriving home:)

Jazzy's first piano recital....

Tonight was our first recital at Ms. Karen Nalder's studio/home. It was really only for the kids to get to know one another. There weren't even any parents there for kids over the age of 5 yrs. The older kids each walked up in front of the audience, did the Suzuki bow, adjusted their own seat and blocks under their feet, played their piece, then bowed again. All were very talented.

The younger kids were just supposed to walk up in front and bow. Jasmine apparently didn't know that because she went up to the piano and began adding blocks and adjusting the seat. She climbed up onto the seat and began to play... not a song, of course.. but just some nice relaxing notes. She played for a *long* time and took her bow again. Everyone clapped.... which she thrives on! Most of the other little kids went up and did their bow, but didn't want to play. The teacher was amazed. I wasn't surprised because Jasmine is a performer and likes to be on stage dancing or doing something. During dance recitals... she always says to me "When is it *my* turn"? .... every minute or so. Unfortunately, the lights were dimmed and the photos of her playing turned out dark.


waiting for the recital to begin
playing at the piano
sugar overload after the recital with her new friend
taking a bow after her performance. You can't see it very well, but she is right next to the piano.
Jazzy and her friend (Salika?) - velcroed together for the entire evening.

Celebration at pre-school....

National Adoption Day was celebrated today at Dayspring Preschool in Tempe!:) Initially, the teacher.. Mrs. Slama... suggested I explain what adoption is to the school! Ha ha... That is very difficult if not impossible with a group of 4 year olds. We talked about it very briefly, then read the book "A Mother for Choco" which is a book for preschoolers that explains adoption. It is about a little bird Choco who has lost his mother. He looks and looks, and finally spots Mrs. Bear. She takes him home to be her child along with Hippy, Ally, and Piggy.. the hippo, alligator and pig. It is a cute story that shows how mothers don't have to look the same as their children and can even come from different environments.

We talked for awhile about Vietnam- how it is very far away- and what an orphanage is. I showed alot of photos of Vietnam in some impressive picture books I have, as well as some photos that I took in Vietnam of men driving cyclos and motorcycles, Vietnamese houses and buildings, and a market close to Jasmine's orphanage. We even showed where Jasmine was born on the map of Vietnam. I brought some brightly colored conical Vietnamese hats which the kids decorated with glitter glue and all kinds of little stick on things.

Later, we had a snack of Vietnamese egg rolls- otherwise known as "rollers" by Jasmine. They were catered by Pho Van restaurant and catering- close to our house. We also had some coconut cookies made by Donna's Asian Bakery in Tempe.

It was a fun day and a nice way to at least introduce the word "adoption" to the other kids.


Ready to go to school with her Vietnamese doll - which was her adoption day gift

decorating hats

eating eggrolls and cookies

making a turkey decoration for next week

Official Adoption Day Anniversary!

Today is our Official two year Adoption Anniversary. Two years ago on this day, we were in a Vietnamese court signing all kinds of papers... (in addition to the hundreds we had already signed). We also had to listen to the judge read some kind of oath which was apparently in English... although I had no idea what he said. I just said "yes" every time he paused!

Today I took my lethargic, bleary-eyed, feverish, achey, queasy, coughing self with Jasmine to our regular Desert Botanical Garden Seedlings outing. We studied "octopus cactus", otherwise known as ocotillo- a very common cactus in Arizona. While walking around in the Cactus Gallery of the garden, Jasmine drew pictures of cactus, and checked off colors that she found in the cacti. We ate a cactus snack and made a cactus craft, too.

We spent the rest of the day with Larry Carden, an account rep for Premier Research Labs in Austin, TX... the company where I purchase most of my supplements for patients and ourselves. He was passing thru Phoenix and left the entire day open to work on/with us. We have been working energetically on Jazzy's eyes for a couple of years and I think we made alot of progress today. He also worked on me.... which was very helpful! While we were leaving Jazzy said, "That Larry- he is such a nice man. I am going to miss him:)"


Two years ago today in court with Huong our translater and Lai the nanny holding Jasmine.

The Judge telling me something in "English".

Making a design in glitter glue today.
Waiting in line to go outside.
Making an ocotillo cactus out of molding clay.

Two Year Anniversary!

Today is the two year anniversary of the day that Jasmine and I met at the Hoi An orphanage. I was very excited about it, and she just screamed the whole time! Today, we went to the gym (LA Fitness/Kid's Club), then stopped at the Tempe Farmer's Market and bought a couple of things. Donna from "Donna's Asian Bakery" had a booth there. She is going to make the cookies for Jasmine's Vietnamese/Adoption party on the 19th at her school. We also went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Pho Van) in Chandler. They are going to make the Vietnamese egg rolls for Jasmine's class- since I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do it!

Hoi An orphanage 2 years ago today

Eating at Pho Van today. Jasmine *loves* Vietnamese food. She doesn't eat much at home, but at a Vietnamese restaurant, she is a little piglet!

Flowers from our friend Vince


Happy Birthday to me! and Happy Anniversary to Us!

Edible Arrangement

Grandma and Grandpa sent us an Edible Arrangement for my Birthday!. It has a couple of bare spots because we already ate a few things off of it. Then we went ice skating. Here is Jazzy getting ready to go on the ice and practicing her arabesque. Just chillin out.

DBG Cottonwood Study

Today at DBG Seedlings, we studied the Cottonwood tree, a common tree around Arizona. We learned that aphids eat the cottonwood leaves and the "stem mother" lays eggs on the stem of the leaf. The leaf forms a "gall", which nourishes the aphids. We walked around the Botanical Garden looking at the chrysalis that the caterpillars from last week had made on the milkweeds. Soon they will turn into Monarchs. We collected some of the dried Cottonwood leaves with galls attached and looked at the aphids inside. We even had a snack made of cheese and mini bread sticks that looked like a Cottonwood tree.

Petting Prince the king snake. Bon Jovi the gecko did not want to come out from under his rock... so we didn't get to hold him. Jasmine wasn't too sure about Prince, but she eventually did pet him.

Eating the Cottonwood snack

Painting

Making a lizard out of play dough